THANKSGIVING DECOR - BY THE SKIN OF MY TEETH!!!

I apologize for the lateness of this Thanksgiving-related post.  My intentions were great and I had time etched out for crafting, but the unexpected October 29th New England storm (Storm Alfred...I didn't even know it had a name until the power came back!) that left us without power for over a week and then no cable for a few days after ... not to mention the ensuing yard and home restoration that followed it, as well as the backlog at work, has put me way off my crafting game!!  Darn those Nor'easters!!

The snow we shovelled was up to my knees.  Tired!!  I don't know if you can see those poor trees in the background weighted by the snow!!  The oaks still had their leaves and the older ones simply didn't hold up to the weight of the snow.  Needless to say, I am keeping things simple this holiday. 

I completed my Fall wreath for the front door prior to the storm, thank goodness.

I started with a purchased twig wreath and some Fall foliage floral picks.  I placed the picks around the wreath in a way that pleased me and added a few dried weeds from my yard for texture.  I made my own bow using wire-edged ribbon that had a nice Fall ombre' to it.  I am particularly pleased about the bow because I am a Bow-Challenged Crafter (as much as I hate to admit it).

For a decorative touch in my powder room I placed some tiny pumpkins and a few berry sprigs in a tall vase and set it on the shelf. 

Here again I was lucky in that I set up the display initially for Halloween and when Halloween passed I simply removed the elements that were specific to that holiday (the spiders and skull...)

These tiny pumpkins are fun to use in your decor...you can find some additional uses in my post last year titled:  Quick Fall Table Decor Using Tiny Pumpkins.

I wanted something natural and homey for my Thanksgiving table.  I turned to Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts book because I recalled seeing decor using acorns and leaves (and I have plenty of those!)

Sure enough,  the book has a section about "Acorn Crafts" that includes 4 projects: a pincushion; an acorn-topped box; a garland; and, a napkin ring.  I really would like to make the garland but, for the sake of time I settled on the simplicity of the napkin rings.  Each ring uses two acorns and one oak leaf.

Martha Stewart used real oak leaves and preserved them with a glycerin solution.  I did not have the time, nor the desire, to preserve my oak leaves so I stole some silk ones off of the fall garland I had on my mantel.

I collected some acorns with caps that fit (plenty of those lying around the yard now!)and used my Dremel tool fitted with my 1/16th" bit to drill two side-by-side holes through the top end of each cap.  I inserted 16" lengths of 22-gauge wire from the inside of the cap so the ends stuck towards the outside.

I twisted the wire ends and attached the acorn bodies to their wired caps with wood glue.

I wrapped the acorn stems with floral tape (... which is stiiiiicky!!!) .  I also used floral tape to attach one oak leaf  per napkin ring to a piece of 22-gauge wire (covering the wire as well.)  To use floral tape you need to stretch it as you tightly wrap the element.

Note:  I wondered why Martha used plain wire and then covered it, rather than pre-covered floral wire so I bought both types.  I found out that when the cloth-wrapped wire is pushed through the hole, the cloth part gets jammed up behind the hole which allowed only the wire to poke through.  You can see that in the photo below.

I do wish Martha would explain stuff like that.

The photo below, from left to right, shows the elements (and steps) that comprise one napkin ring:  a wrapped leaf stem; two wrapped acorn stems in opposing directions; the leaf stem attached to an acorn stem, then all wrapped together and covered with brown hem tape.

Martha's instructions guided me to wrap the wired elements with floral tape, and attach one leaf wire and one acorn wire together with brown floral tape, then wrap the units together with brown seam binding...gluing at the ends. I did my first one that way but found an order of steps that worked better for me on all the others when I was ready to apply the seam binding (which I could not find...so I used "Soft and Easy Hem Tape" and found that one package was good for two napkin rings.)

After wrapping each wired stem with floral tape this is the process I found to be most efficient: 

First:  Wrap a leaf stem with the hem tape...securing the end with a small wrap of floral tape.

Second:  Wrap an acorn stem with the hem tape...adding the leaf stem to the wrap when you get down an inch or so (which hides the ends of the leaf stem).  See photo below:

Third:  When you are a couple of inches from the bottom, add another acorn stem, positioning it so the acorn is heading in the opposite direction, and continue wrapping with the hem tape  until you reach the acorn.

Last:  At the acorn end, I wrapped the hem tape around a few times so hide any wire that showed and came back down the stem a little.  I used a bit of glue and held the end in place with a tiny clip until it dried.  I coiled the unit into a ring shape all ready to add a napkin.

These would also be pretty snaking up a candle stick, wrapped into a wreath, a vase, a chandelier -- the possibilities are something to think about.  But not right now!  Now I have to get everything else ready for my table...tomorrow!!! 


HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

EASY UPCYCLED PUMPKIN

• Orange and green spray paint ... check. 
• Floral wire ... check. 
• Sticks, no problem...lots after Hurricane Irene ... check, check and, triple check! 
• Glue gun ... check.  
• Dryer vent hose ... check.  Wait, what?!?  Dryer vent hose you say?

What has all of this got to do with Fall crafting?  Well, put them together and you get the cutest and easiest little pumpkin ever, that's what.  Look at these!

This project caught my eye last year but I ran out of time to make it - the Fall decorating season was over and the Christmas crafting season had begun.  As usual, too many projects, too little time!!  Anyway, here I am a full year later and I actually remembered to give this a try (wonders never cease)!   I found the project in a book called The Big Green Book of Recycled Crafts, published by Leisure Arts.

To make one pumpkin you will need 20-25" of dryer vent hose - I bought some at my local hardware store since my husband frowned at the idea of my cutting into the vent hose attached to my dryer.  Go figure!    Measure the hose when it is extended fully and then cut.  Form it into a circle, matching the ends and glue to secure.  Tip:  I found that the longer length was better because I was more easily able to stretch it into the circle.  Another Tip:  I held the hose and glued it myself but it would be easier to maneuver if you had a helper to either hold the vent or apply the glue.  Yet another Tip:  I stretched a rubber band around it to secure the shape while the glue dried.

Spray the body orange and, when dry, spray a bit of green at the top.  (Spray a 6" long stick green while you are at it or, if you prefer you can leave the stick natural.)

Curl a 16" piece of wire around a pencil....

Slide pencil out...

And you have a completed curlicue!  Wrap the straight end around the base of the stick/stem.  Apply some glue to one end of the stick/stem and insert it into the opening in the center of the top of the pumpkin.

I made the "leaves" by knotting a 12" piece of ribbon at the base of the stem and trimming it into a leaf shape.

That's all there is to it!  When my husband came home from work he was surprised at how effective the pair of these pumpkins were.  He didn't even double-check to make sure our dryer hose was intact.

Crafty Tips:  If you hope to use these outside make sure you use a spray paint that is appropriate for outdoors.  Also, they are somewhat light and might blow away (can you imagine what someone might think if pumpkins were flying by them in the wind!! funny) so one thought I had would be to insert something weighty before you glue the ends together.

A LITERARY FALL LEAF WREATH AND PUMPKIN

This week I am not writing about a book per se, but about the pages in the book.  And I am not writing about the pages so much as I am writing about what can be done with those pages (once the book is no longer a viable reading option, says the librarian in me..)

I was wracking my brain for a different Fall wreath idea this year, thumbing through all those magazines and pre-holiday catalogues that had begun to pour, in when I noticed a recurrent theme:  leaves made from book pages, book pages with leaf shapes cut out of them and inserted into vases as table decor, pumpkins decoupaged with old book pages (hmmmm). 

I studied the pile of catalogues and magazines in my recycling bin.  I studied my book shelves and recognized several paperbacks that really were falling apart and waiting for me to accept their fate.  And an idea was born:   I decided to put them all to good use and created a Literary Fall Leaf Wreath!

Isn't is pretty?

To begin, I went through my catalogues and magazines looking mainly at the colors and tones, searching for areas that would make good Fall leaves.

Crafty Tip:  I used an old quilting trick taught to me by my sister who makes gorgeous quilts in her spare time.  When she is trying to visualize whether a fabric (or section of a fabric) will work for her finished piece she puts her right and left thumb tips together and her right and left index finger tips together to form an open triangular space in front of her.  If a smaller opening is required, she slides her hands closer together to make a smaller triangle.  She then holds this opening above the fabric so she can isolate the small section she might use while the her hands block out the rest of the image that may be visually distracting.  If she sees what she likes and feels it will "fit" the theme of her quilt, she buys it.  Easy-peasy!!

The photo above is an ad in one of my catalogues.

I use my hand triangle to block out visual distractions

 and determine that I like that section of color.
(Please excuse the visual distraction of the butterfly stamp on my hand ...
I went to a butterfly conservancy recently which was incredible!)

Ta da ... it is a beautiful Fall leaf!

I looked at everything on each page, the backgrounds as well as the image the photographer was trying to capture, isolating sections with my "hand triangle".

An ad for a blouse ...

  

... becomes a leaf!

Here's what I mean about looking beyond the picture itself.

If you look carefully you can see that I have traced my

 leaf template onto a section of the page

that might make an interesting leaf.

I do not own a leaf punch or a die-cutter so I made templates in the shapes of an oak leaf  and a maple leaf .  I cut two sizes of oak leaves from the magazines and catalogues and cut one size of maple leaves from the old paperbacks.  My fingers did get a little "scissor-sore" after a while.

Crafty Cutting Tip:   Make a rough cut first to separate the section you want from the larger piece of paper to reduce "drag" from weight of the sheet.  Next, when cutting around the shape, turn the paper rather than the scissors for a smooth, even cut.

I spread my leaves out in front of me, roughly sorted by color and tones and pinned a foundation layer of leaves around a foam wreath that I wrapped with burlap strips. 

I used leaves that were not my favorites for this foundation layer

 because I figured they would be mostly covered up anyway (as would the pins.)

I continued placing and pinning leaves randomly distributing the colors until the burlap was no longer visible and I was satisfied with the look.  I finished by placing the paperback book leaves around the entire wreath in a random fashion.

Crafty Tip:  I used some double-sided tape to keep some of the

leaves in place and to hide some of the pin heads.

Since I had some the paperback maple leaves left over I continued my literary holiday decor by using them to adorn a small pumpkin.  I had noticed some pumpkins in the magazines I was "leafing" through (bad pun but appropriate here!) that had been completely covered with dictionary pages and others that had tissue paper leaves decoupaged on them.  I combined the two ideas for my little pumpkin. 

I mixed some white all-purpose glue with a little water and decoupaged (fancy word for adding cutout adornments with layers of glue) them on using a small foam brush.   The spider is from one of my posts last year called: Fall Is Here - And With It Comes Halloween.   

Happy Fall crafting everyone!!

EASY TO SEW REUSABLE COFFEE SLEEVES FOR FALL

I stumbled upon a pattern for sewing coffee cup sleeves on the Fiskars website and decided to conclude National Sewing Month by making a pair in Fall-themed fabrics for my coffee loving colleagues.  The pattern was free on their website and was super simple to sew.  I really like the idea of a reusable sleeve because it cuts down on waste...just throw it in your laundry with the rest of your stuff when you need to.

You will need to collect two coordinating fabrics, some batting, a small piece of elastic cording, and a button (two if you want to make it reversible).  You will also need a sleeve from an earlier cup of coffee to use as a pattern.

Use the sleeve to create a template by drawing around it, then drawing another line about 1/2" out from its edge thereby making it a little larger all around for seam allowance.  (I have not yet drawn the larger outline in the above picture.)

Use your template to cut two pieces of fabric and one piece of batting.  I used my rotary cutter to cut the batting - scissors tend to snag.

Layer your pieces in this order:  batting on the bottom, then lay one of the fabric pieces with the right-side up, then your other piece of fabric with the right-side down. 

You will want to lay your pieces so the edges line up nicely.  I splayed the pieces in the photo above so you could see the order.  Once they are lined up, cut a 5" piece of your elastic, fold it in half and lay it between the two fabric pieces with the cut edges hanging slightly outside your layers (loop end pointing towards the middle).

Pin the edges.

Sew a 1/4" seam around, back-stitching over elastic to secure and leaving an opening for turning the piece right-side out.

Trim your edges and clip your corners then turn it right-side out and hand stitch the opening closed.

 Top-stitch, using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Add a button.  I put buttons on both sides to make it reversible.

I made a second one for another colleague using different fabrics and style of buttons.

When we were all out together the other day, naturally we had to stop at my colleagues favorite coffee spot and when they came back to the car I gave them each their Fall Coffee Cup Sleeves.  They were so delighted they immediately put them on theirs cups (right over the cardboard sleeves if you look carefully!).  Cheers!

And now, I bid adieu to National Sewing Month 2011.  I draw in a deep breath and pat myself on the back -- I have braved my sewing machine one more time (anyone who knows me knows that I am not " at one" with my machine.)  The Machine and I have been associates since Middle School (waaaay back in the day) but have never mastered true friendship.  At best we maintain a distant wariness.  It's my fault really.  I have never truly tried to reach out to It.  It has always scared me with its mysterious elements.  But I must say, I think I might be close to asking It to come out and play more often.  Maybe get to know It a little better.  We'll see.

SUMMER DRAWS TO A CLOSE - LET THE FALL CRAFTING BEGIN

The heat of the summer is soon to be a thing of the past (I sure hope so!), the open windows admit a slight chill to the night air, the endless weeding in the garden will come to a stop, and the desire to bake things will start.  I like the change of seasons and the change of motivations it brings with it.

In the Fall, the magazines that arrive at the library begin showing pictures of soups, apples, pumpkins and all things "harvesty" (I'm sure that is...should be...a word).  When the October issue of Crafts 'n Things Magazine first arrived, its cover caught my eye and drew my attention to the fact that it was definitely time to start focusing on Fall crafting!

Isn't that inviting?  Just the word "harvest" conveys images of corn, pumpkins, apples...warm apple cider.  Of course I had to flip through it and as I did I was surprised by the variety of ideas and techniques inside - felting, painting, sewing, punch needle,  clay, Styrofoam, paper crafts, cross-stitch - each project by a different designer and each listed resources for further ideas. 

I found myself inspired and wanted to try a number of them.  But where to start?  Well, since September is National Sewing Month I opted to start with the Sewn Harvest Pumpkins.  Fashioned out of a printed tan cotton fabric with brown velvet stems and green leaves made from clay, the pair of them looked pretty in the photograph and the instructions seemed simple enough even for me (you may remember that I am not "one" with my sewing machine...).   Anyway, I thought a grouping of them in different sizes and fabrics might bring a little bit of the harvest season into my home.

Project One: Sewn Harvest Pumpkins 

I chose supplies that I already had: some upholstery, corduroy and quilting fabrics that went well together instead of the tan cotton fabric; raffia and hemp instead of the jute twine; and sticks instead of velvet  for some of the stems.  I also decided not to make the clay leaves shown in the pattern because I just wanted to focus on the sewing.

The instructions were pretty simple, although there did seem to be an error in Step 6 which reads "with wrong sides together...turn right side out".  I think they meant "with right sides together...".  Also, I was having some conceptual difficulty with the instruction for the pumpkin body which could have benefited from a diagram. 

Tip:  I learned that it is important to stuff the pumpkin firmly and pull the wrapping cord tight to best define the segments.  The smallest light colored pumpkin was my last one and the segments are less "puckery" than the others.

The following instructional tutorial was added at a later date

in response to a request by an anonymous reader:

1. Fold a rectangular piece of fabric in half, right sides together, to form a square.

2. Machine sew a seam along the edge that is opposite the folded edge (the edge to the right in the photo above).

3. With strong thread and leaving a 6" tail, hand stitch a running/basting stitch along one of the open edges.

4. Pull the ends of the basting thread to cinch the fabric ends together; tie off and whip stitch to secure. This will be the bottom of your pumpkin. 

5. Turn piece right side out.

6.  Stuff body firmly with polyfill and stitch another running/basting stitch along open edge.

7. Cinch that basting stitch, tie it off  (wow, the exposure in my photos change alot! Looks like a whole other pumpkin...) 

8. Whipstitch it to secure as you did the previous one.  This will be the top of the pumpkin and the ugliness will be hidden by your stem when you sew it on.

9.  Thread a large-eyed tapestry needle with a long piece of strong threading material (raffia, jute, embroidery floss, hemp...I found the hemp worked best).  Thread it through the top, straight down through the body/core leaving a 12" tail.  Move needle over slightly to avoid first hole and push straight back through the body to the top.  Tie ends together to secure the pumpkin shape.

10.  Continue by bringing needle around the outside of the body and pushing through the same area at the bottom of the pumpkin, up through the core and out the top.  Snug (I also tied it each time for security) to form segment.  Repeat to create more segments by wrapping around the outside, up from the bottom through the body, snugging (and tieing) as you go until you are satisfied with the number of segments you have created.  If you run out of threading material before your segments are complete simply tie on another piece and continue.

11.  Sew a stem shaped piece of fabric.

12. Turn the stem rightside out, stuff the stem, whipstitch the ends together.

13.  Hand sew it to the top of the body, concealing the pumpkin's closure as you stitch.

(The above photo example for step 13 is from one of the other pumpkins.  My pumpkin did not magically morph...I just didn't have a good picture from the rust colored pumpkin for this step of how to sew the stem on.  Actually for the tan corduroy pumpkin I left the bottom of the stem open which worked out just as well as whipstitching it closed.  And in a couple of the pumpkins I simply hot glued sticks in for stems.) 

I hope this photo tutorial is helpful.  I thank the reader who requested it since I had originally written the blog as a tutorial and agonized over the length the article was becoming.  Please let me know in email or comment whether this works for you.  I love hearing from my readers and respond to the comments and emails as quickly as I can!  Unfortunately, I was away from my computer when the comment was posted...

Project Two: Needle-felted Halloween Mouse and Pumpkin

Sewing done,  I could then move on to the project that really drew me - the needle-felted items.  Lured in by the warmth of the cover art and the very cute mouse inside, I got my needle-felting supplies out.  I had blissfully forgotten that the last time I tackled needle-felting I had found it somewhat tedious with my insufficient tool. I remembered that fact once I got underway however, and I stabbed myself any number of times which is not a good thing when you are using white roving!  Anyway, while I still am not completely enamoured with needle-felting (because I simply am not patient enough),  I do love the completed felted items.



I decided to nix my original plan to make the needle-felted Indian corn and larger pumpkins...for now. 

The magazine has a lot of projects that are Halloween-oriented but I was still wanting to make Fall decor that was not Halloween specific.  I decided to work up their napkin ring project.

Project Three:  Harvest Jute Napkin Rings with Clay Leaves

A couple of the projects in the magazine called for an adornment of leaves made out of Sculpey Polymer Clay.  I didn't make them for the Sewn Pumpkins but I decided to give them a shot now.  I used burlap glued to cardboard tubes as the base and then set to work on the clay leaves.   The full-sized leaf templates are provided by the magazine and the leaves were easy to cut out and bake (especially after all the stabbing in the last project).  The hard part was waiting for the various paint coats to dry before I could proceed to the next step.  Also, I found the instructions for the painting techniques to be a bit vague - but I played around with the colors I had and applied them in a way that pleased me.  I liked the end result.

When they were done, I glued them to the prepare tubes with some berry sprigs.

I grouped some of the items together in a display by my fireplace.  We will see how long the mouse lasts before my cat discovers it.

I would love to work on a number of other items in the magazine but I really need to get to work on the wreath for my door before Fall is over!  I have already found the inspiration for that and will show you soon.  Until then, browse through the magazines at your local library and you are bound to find some great inspirations!  Magazines are great sources of information, providing a variety of up-to-date ideas of whatever the current trends, materials and resources are and should not be overlooked when you are researching ideas for things to make.


Some other magazines that might be of interest:

 Country Living, October 2011 issue includes pumpkins that are decoupaged with all sorts of interesting patterns; crow silhouettes fashioned from static-cling window decal sheets (a very trendy Halloween craft this year); and a custom-stamped tablecloth for Halloween.  Decoupaged pumpkins, who would ever have thought?!

Martha Stewart Living, October 2011 issue includes clever paper bats to hang outside your front door; a number of very funky, clever, and simple ideas to dress up your pumpkins instead of carving them which are bound to impress your visitors; and a beautiful idea for an artful arrangement of Fall foliage and fruit.

 McCall's Quick Quilts, October/November 2011 issue includes a variety of project types including some adorable ideas for Halloween.  They also always feature some Quick and Easy ideas.  This magazine is beginning to make even me think about learning to quilt!